By Roger Moore, NCAA.com
(May 21, 2011) -- The champion of the Colorado Region was a formality before Saturday’s final round. Top-ranked Oklahoma State held a 21-shot lead midway through the final round with seven teams within seven shots of second.

In the end it was Colorado State, Northwestern, Georgia and Arizona State who will head to the NCAA finals with the host Cowboys. TCU and Clemson finished one and two shots, respectively, from fifth.

Oklahoma State, host of the 2011 NCAA Championships, May 31-June 5, qualified for the NCAA finals for an NCAA-record 65th time. The Cowboys, who won the 2006 title, totaled 31-under-par and had four players among the top 8 led by medalist Kevin Tway, who finished at 10-under for the week.

Taylor Gooch was 7-under; Sean Einhaus was 6-under and Peter Uihlein was 4-under. Morgan Hoffman was 3-under for the week and tied for 16th.

Colorado State, an NCAA finals qualifier just once, in 1999, shot a final round 9-under 279 with four shooting under par. Zahkai Brown’s wild week of even-par included a 65 on Day 1, an 82 on Day 2 and a final round 69. Ryan Peterson and Kory Harrell finished at 1-under for the tournament.

Northwestern charged up the leaderboard with a final round 12-under 276. Josh Dupont was 10-over through 36 holes but shot 5-under 67 on Saturday. David Lipsky shot 68 for the second consecutive day.

Clemson’s Crawford Reeves finished at 5-under and appeared to have earned the individual spot. That was before Cal Poly’s Geoff Gonzalez birdied his final four holes and five of his last six during a final round 66 to finish at 6-under to punch his ticket to Stillwater.

Auburn’s Blayne Barber was a shot behind Reeves with three holes to play but could manage just three pars. Barber’s teammate, Niclas Carlsson, had six bogeys during a final round 72 that left him four shots back of Gonzalez.

Georgia Tech led for two days but Duke found itself on top after a final round 8-under 280 at the Virginia Tech Region.

The Blue Devils’ Tim Gornik, after back-to-back 3-over 75s, shot 6-under 66 on the final day. Julian Suri finished the week at 2-under after a final round 68.

Tech finished four shots back with Oklahoma, LSU and Kent State earning the other four qualifying spots.

Kent State edged host Virginia Tech by three shots for fifth. The Flashes shot 13-over on Saturday and finished at 29-over.

LSU battled back after a first round 17-over 305 with rounds of 291 and 284 to come in at 16-over for the three days. John Peterson, 3-over through 36 holes, shot 4-under 68 on Saturday.

Oklahoma qualified for its first NCAA finals since 2006.

Coastal Carolina’s Sebastian Soderberg had a big final-day rally to earn the region’s individual spot. Soderberg, 1-over through two days, shot 67 to finish tied for second with Tech’s Kyle Scott and James White, two shots behind Oklahoma’s Abraham Ancer, who had rounds of 70-71-69 for a 6-under total.

Unranked Michigan outlasted Alabama and Illinois to earn top honors at the Indiana Region.

The Wolverines, NCAA finals qualifiers just twice since 1968, shot a final round 9-under 275 and finished at 11-under for the 54 holes. Lion Kim shot 65 on Saturday and was 8-under for the tournament, tying Illinois’ Luke Guthrie at the top of the individual leaderboard. Guthrie had two eagles and shot 65 over his final 18 holes.

Illinois was 9-under for the week, four shots better than Alabama, who was 1-over on Saturday.

Tennessee shot 3-under 281, led by Danny Kendle’s 66, and finished early, sitting in fifth by two shots and having to sit and watch. Stanford started the day in fifth but shot 9-over 293 and finished sixth by four shots. Charlotte was also in contention for a top 5 showing but came in at 8-over and in seventh by 10 strokes.

The Volunteers tied Iowa at 13-over and in fourth. The Hawkeyes qualified for the NCAA finals for just the third time since 1959.

Wake Forest’s Lee Bedford shot a final round 69 and ended the week at 1-under 212 to earn the individual spot. One shot back was Stanford’s David Chung and Indiana’s Corey Ziedonis, Chung shooting 3-over on his final nine including a bogey on his 54th hole and Ziedonis bogeying four holes on his final nine.

Florida shot 11-under 277 on Saturday and easily claimed top honors by six shots over 2010 NCAA champion Augusta State at the Florida Region.

The Gators saw 4 of 5 players shoot under par in the final round including Andres Echavarria’s second straight 68 and Bank Vongvanij’s 69.

Augusta State opened the week with a 290 but finished with rounds of 275 and 287 for a 13-under total.

Kennesaw State shot 6-under on Saturday to move into third and qualified for its first NCAA finals. Matt Nagy, who shot 77 on Day 1, finished the tournament with rounds of 70 and 67. Jeff Karlsson also shot 67 on Saturday.

North Carolina State and Arkansas finished fourth and fifth, respectively, the Razorbacks two shots better than Missouri. The Tigers tried to rally with a 14-under on the final day but came up short.

The Wolfpack will participate in the NCAA finals for the first time since 2006.

Baylor (1-over), Southeastern Louisiana (12-over) and Georgia Southern (1-over) were all within qualifying distance but couldn’t get it done in the final round.

Missouri’s Jace Long started Saturday tied for 25th but shot 10-under and edged SE Louisiana’s Rhys West for the individual spot. Long had nine birdies and an eagle with a bogey for his 62. West followed up a 65 with a 70 on Saturday.

Long, Augusta State’s Patrick Reed and North Carolina State’s Michael Sutton all finished at 10-under in the medalist race.

Pac-10 rivals UCLA and Southern California had a down-to-the-wire battle at the San Diego Region with the Bruins holding off the Trojans by three shots.

UCLA sophomore Patrick Cantlay fired a third straight round in the 60s on Saturday to earn medalist honors by six shots over San Diego’s Manav Shah. Cantlay was 13-under and the only Bruin under par for the week. UCLA finished at 10-under.

A third California school, San Diego, finished third with Ohio State and Texas rounding out the five qualifiers. SMU was two shots behind the Longhorns in sixth after a final round 4-over 292.

The Aztecs finished at 19-under, including a 7-under 277 on Saturday. All five SDSU players broke par for the week led by Alex Kang’s 5-under, 54-hole total.

A&M also shot 7-under in the final round and totaled 12-under for the tournament.

California, Arizona and Pepperdine earned the other three spots. Washington was tied for fifth late in Saturday’s final round but a 4-under 280 was one shot behind Arizona and Pepperdine.

UC-Davis’ Matt Hansen made a first round 64 stand up, finishing at 9-under 204 to earn medalist honors and take the lone individual qualifying spot for the NCAA finals. Oregon State’s Alex Moore was two shots back.